


The Chaos Inside

by FreshBrains



Category: Absentia (2011 film)
Genre: Aftermath of Violence, Gen, Horror, POV Jamie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-11
Updated: 2013-06-11
Packaged: 2017-12-14 14:36:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/837992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FreshBrains/pseuds/FreshBrains
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When he leaves, he doesn't look back, and the tiny glimmer of hope in his chest finally dies.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Chaos Inside

**Author's Note:**

> I took a gamble writing a fic for an independent horror movie with no existing fandom, but I really enjoyed writing this. Hopefully I can find more _Absentia_ fans through this fic! 
> 
> For reference, her is the film on IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1610996/combined
> 
> It can be watched on Netflix Instant and is also available on DVD. It is truly a wonderful horror film, and I wish it was more popular.

Jamie Lambert goes back to the tunnel sometimes.

He has nothing left to lose, so he goes to the tunnel and he hopes.

He never hears anything; he never sees anything. The tunnel is solid concrete covered in graffiti (he always expects to read pleas for help, people begging for salvation with their own blood, but the symbols mean nothing to him). The watches and jewels have disappeared. 

Sometimes, the tunnel just seems like a tunnel, but Jamie never forgets.

Jamie knows his life is over. He’d devoted his life to bringing Dad back, and when his dad got spit out of the tunnel like a hunk of meat, everything ended. It was all over from that day forward.

So he goes back to the quiet, _quiet_ tunnel and he hopes.

One afternoon, when the sun is bright and hot and he can see it beam out of the other end of the tunnel, he takes his slow daily walk into the dark, where the air is always cool and smells like mildew and wet pavement.

A girl sat in the middle, her legs splayed like a doll’s, and Jamie Lambert just stood and stared.

She came from the tunnel, to whatever lived in the space below. Her head lolled to the side, face curtained by dirty dark hair, and her dark clothes had grayed with age. She whined softly, throat torn from pain and fear.

She looked up at him.

He stared and stared some more, and hope inside him swelled like a balloon.

_Callie_.

“What the hell are you doing here?” She asked softly, blinking slowly, making no move to stand. The backs of her hands lay in the dirt beneath her, her knuckles scraped from the filth. She doesn't look surprised.

Jamie rushes to her, reaches his arms out, the angelic form of a savior. “Let’s go, let’s get out of here!” He has stopped thinking, the tunnel seems unbelievable long and narrow, and he wants to see the sun shine on Callie’s skin again.

But she just smirks and stares at him. Her body is broken; she doesn't move, and Jamie realized she can’t walk. Her back is broken and she is sitting in the dirt because the tunnel spat her up, still alive but empty of hope. 

“Got a cigarette?” She asks, and coughs, wincing.

Jamie’s fingers shake as he reaches into his pocket, pulls out a crumpled pack of Marlboros and a plastic lighter. He lights one for her and brings it to her lips, helping her take a drag, and when she exhales she closes her eyes.

“Tricia had a girl,” she says, soft and husky. “Sometimes she comes up here. But people think someone had a kid and dumped it, so they don’t help.”

Jamie’s voice shakes as he whispers, “I can help you out of here, Callie. I can save you. Just let me carry you out of here, I can—“

“No, you can’t,” Callie says firmly, no sadness in her voice. She is gone. She looks like Callie but Callie died years ago, leaving only a black tennis shoe in her wake. “I belong to the tunnel.”

Jamie nods. He cries, despite the disappointment that was so familiar. “What can I do?”

“Just help me finish the cigarette,” she answers, her eyes still closed. “And don’t come back.”

Jamie listens.

When he leaves, he doesn't look back, and the tiny glimmer of hope in his chest finally dies.


End file.
